Lemon R32 Gt-r

[shaund]

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section...... I wasn't sure exactly where to post. I thought this would be a good starting point

I bought an R32 GT-R imported from Japan about 5 months ago thats a complete lemon. Its been mostly sitting in my garage, and that of a pannel beater who went out of business recently, waiting for various things to happen. Luckily, the guy in Japan that I bought it from is doing the right thing and helping me with getting it to an acceptable state.

I need some recommendations for workshops in Perth to do the rebuild on the engine, as well as the rust repairs.

Problems with the engine include:

Noisy valve train - noise is most evident when parked, in neutral, after warming up, gently reving the engine up to about the 4000rpm mark, a noise like a flapping heat shield seems to be coming from the rear drivers side of the engine. I've had a good look and there dosn't seem to be any loose bits that could be causing this noise. I've pulled the rocker covers off and all the bolts/nuts for the cams are all torqued up correctly. I've also checked the clearance between the cam lobes and the tops of the valves and they are mostly ok, however there are a couple that are about 2-3 times the tollerance out. I have doubts as to if this would be enough to cause this noise.

Cylinder 3 is as oily as anything.

Compression is all over the show:

Cyl1 - 160PSI

Cyl2 - 155PSI

Cyl3 - 170PSI

Cyl4 - 150PSI

Cyl5 - 135PSI

Cyl6 - 155PSI

4WD system dosn't work. (pretty open ended problem, I know)

Pannel beater who was originally going to do the work on my car before going out of business said that there was some noise from the bottom end.

Gearbox has a noisy bearing on the input shaft (i've sourced a recently rebuilt gearbox to solve this already).

On the rust side of things, there are rusted out holes right the way through the floorpan on both the drivers side and passenger side, front and rear where the jacking points are located. I suspect based on the fact that all the metal underside around these points is pushed up and deformed that the previous idiot owner in Japan has no clue about using a jack!

It seems at this stage that the guy I've bought the car from in Japan is looking to cover the cost of labour on the engine rebuild and I may have to either partially or completely cover the cost of parts.

At this stage, I'm not looking to spend a heap on the engine internals. I simply can't afford to currently.

I'm guessing that as far as the engine rebuild goes, I'm up for a full set of bearings, valve guides, rings, potentially valve springs, gaskets, timing belt, other belts, hoses etc and other incidental bits during a rebuild. I'm also thinking that it may be a good idea to put an uprated oil pump in place as I've heard many times about the oil pumps on the r32 GTRs shitting themselves. Nengun have a Trust oil pump for $1200. Are there any other relatively inexpensive things I should do to the engine at this point in time to make it more reliable, or able to handle more power?

I'd really appreciate any recommendations that anyone can give me on local workshops in Perth to do the engine rebuild (or workshops to avoid for that matter), or pannel beaters to fix the rust (and likewise to be avoided).

Cheers,

-Shaun

[danielson]

you might be better off getting a half cut.....

[predator]

.. or selling it for parts? weigh up the costs I guess.

[B0oStEr]

Aren't there rules under the current compliancing system preventing rust repaired vehicles from being passed:(

[browny]

Cut your losses and walk away?

Seems like you have a hell of a lot of expenses coming up if you try and fix it.

[Ronin 09]

  B0oStEr said:

Aren't there rules under the current compliancing system preventing rust repaired vehicles from being passed:(

yeah but how many come through rusted to the sh!thouse, then bodge-fixed and on sold by unscupulous dealers?

[gazza750]

Damage control in maddington for panel repair work are about the best i have heard of for skylines and Top Racing in bentley for mechanical side of things theyare both in phone book ( steve at top racing is a gtr guru)

[MANWHOR3]

I see another who has jumped onto the the cheap gtr bandwagon and been burnt.

I always tell people don't spend all your money on a 15 yo car and not save any for repairs. Cheap cars are espcially bad - you get what you pay for.

Now, to fix it - having to rebuild the motor is probably not a bad thing. just like with any other 32, most of them are f**ked. so at least you'll be guaranteed a good motor.

Also, most of the 32s i've seen haev a bit of rust, especially the ones from the north. if it's not too bad, then repair it.

All in all, it sounds like the car was really cheap, so even after repairing it, you will probably still end up pretty well off.

[Mr Italy!]

Genuine Nissan GTR N1 Oil Pump Price: $499

Upgrade oil pump for RB26DETT

JustJap.com

[CRSRB25DE]

  shaund said:

I've pulled the rocker covers off and all the bolts/nuts for the cams are all torqued up correctly. I've also checked the clearance between the cam lobes and the tops of the valves and they are mostly ok, however there are a couple that are about 2-3 times the tollerance out. I have doubts as to if this would be enough to cause this noise.

2-3 times the tollerance out!?

RB26 valve clearence is quite large to begin with - ex .38mm (.015") , in .45mm. (.0177")

If your clearences were 2-3 times this it would sound like a diesel!

post up what you actually measured....

You dont need a $1200 oil pump unless you are chasing big power/ high rpm.

Just get your r32 crank modified using a collar that has a wider oil pump drive on it. (proengines from here makes them) and use a r33 oil pump or an N1 pump.

Good luck with ya rebuild

[shaund]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies...

  gazza750 said:

Damage control in maddington for panel repair work are about the best i have heard of for skylines and Top Racing in bentley for mechanical side of things theyare both in phone book ( steve at top racing is a gtr guru)

Thanks gazza750... I'll give them both a call on monday and have a chat.

  MANWHOR3 said:

I see another who has jumped onto the the cheap gtr bandwagon and been burnt.

...

Yup. However, the vehicle wasn't cheap... it was just shy of $16,000 australian before import duty, ompliance etc etc. Based on the photos and the description, allegedly 60,000km, seemingly genuine, supported in every way by the rest of the description and photos etc, I assumed I'd managed to score something really worth having. However, it turns out not to be. This vehicle was several thousand more than the other vehicles available at the time, all of which had more realistic milage of anywhere from 100-160,000. I suspect mine was at 160,000km (doing hard miles at that) and the odometer was simply wound back.

  Mr Italy! said:

Genuine Nissan GTR N1 Oil Pump Price: $499

Upgrade oil pump for RB26DETT

JustJap.com

Thanks Mr Italy!... Sounds like this one is the go-er then

  CRSRB25DE said:

2-3 times the tollerance out!?

RB26 valve clearence is quite large to begin with - ex .38mm (.015") , in .45mm. (.0177")

...

Thanks CSRB25DE. Unfortunately I took the measurements about a month ago and never recorded them. So this is the likely the cause of the noise I'm hearing.

I guess the moral of this story is never buy a car sight unseen, especially if its in another country.

Does anyone have any more workshops or pannel beaters to recommend?

Cheers!

-Shaun